Friday, June 3, 2016

South Florida

River went to a new low today.

hehe, don't worry, I just mean that we are now officially as far south as we've ever been together. Until today, Venice, Florida held that distinction. And it was a title once held by Corpus Christi, TX, as well. But today we pass that crown on to the town of Pompano Beach.

It is freakin humid here. I think of all weathers, hot and humid is my least favorite.

The drive was a simple one.

FL-72, FL-70, FL-710, I-95

We drove for a long time without stopping. Eventually, I stopped as we crossed the Kissimee River. There was a place to pull off with access to the river, so how could I pass that up?

The water was brownish, but there were fish in it, so I guess it wasn't TOO toxic. I let River play in it, and he did for a long time. I think he was happy that there were no waves and no salt.

He seems to be a lot more calm when playing in rivers than he does when playing in the ocean.

He was trying to eat the grass

Luckily, he didn't try to eat the scraps of garbage.

After the river, we got back on the road and River climbed into the trunk to take a nap on top of my luggage.

When we got to the motel room, I took EVERYTHING out of the car and put it in the room. I don't usually do that, but I wanted to take the car in to get washed. Just doing that small five or ten minute task got me so sweaty, I had to take a shower before going to the car wash.

On the way to the wash, since there was no cargo, River had full run of the back area, and he chose to hang out in the rear passenger side foot well. This picture was taken from the driver's seat, through the two front seat backs.

We went to a place called Rising Tide car wash. I heard about it on Facebook. They hire almost exclusively people with autism. I loved that concept and wanted to support it, so I made a special effort to visit the place when I was nearby. Parkland is only about ten minutes from Pompano Beach.

They first put me through the car wash which takes care of the exterior.

For the interior wash, I had to pull into a dock and three guys approached to get started. I got out and rushed around to the passenger side to escort River out before unlocking the doors. When they first saw River, they all gushed a bit. And then when they saw all of the sand and dog hair in the upholstery, one guy looked a little panicked and came up close to me to say he couldn't guarantee getting all the dog hair out. I said it was fine if they just got as much as they could.

While they worked, we waited in the grass. I was going to take a video of how River was watching them and the car wash we had just come out of. At one point, River stood in the line of fire of some more biting ants. So we spent some time tending to that situation. While the guys polished Babe, River danced and kicked and I brushed at his legs. But she sparkles now, and I don't see any awful welts on River's paws. So all is well.

Back at the motel room, he demonstrated he still hasn't developed a fear of being bitten by ants in grass. I took him for his feeding and found we had a giant lawn to run around on. We used the whole thing!

In the morning, I packed up the car again and headed to a Nia class in town. This is the first time I've been to Pompano Beach, met my host, Jody, and taught to this group.

The Star Ballroom looks like a classy dance hall, with tables for eating in a waiting area and a big dance floor. The class was full, with about 20 people and we had a great time doing the Amazing routine. At first the microphone was cutting out, and then we changed the battery, but that didn't work, so I just taught without the mic.

My Nia "home" in Pompano Beach

After class we hit the road for our next city. We've been on the road for just a couple of days over a month, now. The trip odometer says we've covered over 7000 miles. With four months still left to go, I'm curious to see how high that odometer reads by October.